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PROSPECTS OF CUBA: 



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MISTER JOHN M, WJLSON, 



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REMARKS 



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MASTER JOHN M. WJLSON, 



ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE 



PKOSPEGTS OF CUBA: 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE PHCENIX LYCEUM, 

IN WASHINGTON CITY, 

ON MONDAY 

EVENING, JULY 3, 1854. 



"Si quid novisti rectius istis, 

Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum" 

Horace. 



WASHINGTON : 

C. ALEXANDER, PRINTER, 

P ST., NEAR NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

1854. 



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4 REMARKS. 

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Ladies and Gentlemen: 

To me has been delegated the honor by my fellow 
members of delivering: the first address upon the eve of 
the anniversary of the declaration of American Inde- 
pendence. I have chosen a subject which I hope will 
be acceptable not only to them but to every one present. 
It is this : " The present and future prospects of Cuba;" 
that Island, the ownership of which, is coveted by every 
nation in the world. Spain has for many years tiembled 
for her possessions in the West Indies, and lately more 
than ever, for the United States, England, and France, 
the three greatest nations of the earth, have been cast- 
ing, not only their eyes, but even their arms in that di- 
rection. It is manifest that the subject of Cuba is be- 
coming one of gi eat and growing interest to this coun- 
try ; it stands upon our eastern borders, and if it should 
be taken, or bought from Spain by any power of any 
great maritime strength, adverse, or unfriendly to us, it 
would be impossible for the states bordering on the 
Gulf of Mexico to get their products to market. Our great 
staples must rot upon the wharves of our southern com- 
mercial cities. It is therefore a subject to which every 
American must direct his attention, and dispose of one 
way or another. Havana is somewhat quiet at present, 
though there never was a time for greater complaint, 
never a time when people were so cruelly outraged, and 



wronged, but under the spy system, with no way to act 
in concert, prudence on their part is considered the 
better part of valor ; almost fearing to hope, they are 
compelled to submit, and their Viceroy, Captain General, 
with unlimited power, encouraged by their silence, con- 
tinues to issue decrees and proclamations, each tending 
to the emancipation of the slaves, and the consequent 
ruin of the agricultural interests of the country, in ac- 
cordance with alleged, but denied secret treaty between 
England, France, and Spain. The case of the "Black 
Warrior," in which the present Captain General was so 
unceremoniously set down, and his fine upon the Cap- 
tain of that vessel withdrawn, shows us in what light we 
are looked upon by Spain, but for my part I am sorry 
we had to look to Spain for redress in this case. I should 
rather have seen anAmerican squadron drawn up before 
Moro castle, for the Blockade of Havana, demanding 
its surrender, and the instant restitution of everything 
concerning the Black Warrior — then ; and then only 
would their Captain General know how the United 
States received insults. This is only one of the many 
steps that have been taken to exclude our steam Vessels 
from Cuba, and this would never have been done, had 
Spain not relied on France and England for support 
and aid, in a cause which the world knows her govern- 
ment would have been broken up, her Army and Navy 
totally annihilated, and her Cuban possessions snatched 
from her grasp, by a power daily increasing in wealth 
and prosperity, which now rivals, if it does not excel 
the world in every thing. Among the many themes of 



conversation in relation to Cuba at the present time, is 
that of Africanizing it — aye, even of Africanizing that 
great and beautiful Island. I can scarcely think that 
Spain would prefer the devastation, pillage and destruc- 
tion of her possessions, to the peaceful transfer of Cuba, 
at some future period, to the United States, for a sum 
that would help her to extricate herself from the debt 
which at present hangs upon her, like an incubus, and 
so much so as to be almost insupportable. ■ But 
still, I am obliged to believe it : the private and official 
letters which have passed between Spain, England and 
France, render it almost absolutely certain that such a 
step will be taken. The raising of the black regiment 
is another proof of this, for which at first there was so 
much trouble to get soldiers, but when it was found out 
for what they were wanted, how quickly their companies 
were filled, thousands came forward, and then but little 
trouble was experienced except in drilling them, for 
which they were found almost totally incompetent. Who 
can wander through the orange and lemon groves of this 
Eden of the world, and breathe their balmy fragrance as 
it is cast upon the air, and not think but with deep re- 
gret, that perhaps ere long all this will be given up to 
the blacks alone ? That proud Spain with all her wonte d 
glory will give up her territory, peopled by her own 
children, to negroes instead of whites ! England has 
for some months past relaxed considerably her vigilance 
in relation to the slave trade, and thousands of negroes 
are constantly pouring into Cuba ; this is sufficient to 
justify the belief that she is conniving at the introduction 



of slaves into that Island. Our present President has 
acted with great alacrity in relation to our affairs with 
Spain, and his message concerning them shows the 
true spirit of an American and a democrat ; it has 
been received with joy and good feeling all over the 
United States, and shows lhat although this Captain 
General, and his predecessors have been allowed to act 
as they please heretofore, their career is about to be 
slopped. What was their course? Shooting down our 
own ciuzens in cold blood, without a trial, I was about 
to say; but they did give them a trial, and a trial truly 
it was — neither were they present nor counsel in 
their defence. Who can bring to mind the words of 
the gallant Crittenden, when told to kneel with his back 
towards the enemy to be shot, " / am an American, 
an Americin kneels to none but his God, and never turns 
his back upon an enemy," without feeling his heart 
bursting with joy at the thought that such is only one 
specimen of a true and brave American ? The southern 
States bordering on the Gulf would never permit Spain, 
as a matter of revenge, in case of a revolution by the 
Creoles, to give up the Island to the negroes, with a view 
to the destruction of the planters. They cannot permit 
such an example to be successful so near their shores, 
and any attempt of that sort either by Spain or any other 
power would be followed by an immediate seizure of the 
Island by the United States or the States bordering on 
the Gulf of Mexico. On what principle does England 
hold Gibralter, Malta and several other strong positions 
which once give her dominion over the commerce of the 



world ? Why, they have assumed thein as being ne- 
cessary to the protection of their own trade. Upon this 
question of necessity, the policy of our government is 
well settled, if Cuba should ever pass from the dominion 
of Spain to that of an other power. It has been the 
policy of the authorities of Cuba to represent that the 
Creoles of the Island did not sympathize with the move- 
ments of Lopez, but the reverse of this is well known 
as an extensive revolt was at one time planned and or- 
ganized. This is proved by the multitude of arrests 
and of banishments, and by the fact that all the prisons 
of the Island were overflowing. After the failure of the 
first expedition, this organization was nearly broken up. 
It was renewed just before the second, and at one time 
a declaration of independence was promulgated. It is 
certain that if Lopez had landed wiih two thousand men 
and a few pieces of cannon, he would have taken the 
Island : but he was made a victim of a stratagem of the 
government, which had letters written to him telling 
him if he landed with a few men, he would be joined by 
the whole Island — so he landed with only four hundred 
men, at which the Islanders saw that all was lost, and 
abandoned a movement which they believed would be 
entirely broken up by the Spanish forces on the Island. 

We are saluted every day with the question, "do you 
think we will manage to get Cuba peaceably?" but in my 
opinion this will not be so. 

The " Clamor Publico" a newspaper published at 
Madrid, contains a list of vessels to be ready by the 1st of 
lastmonth for Cuba, numbering 12 and carrying 170guns. 



8 

Quite a laughable incident occurred in Havana not 
long since. Mr. Pragas, one of the order of " Aminis- 
lados," wrote a very complimentary letter to General 
Pezuela, lauding the Queen for her clemency, and the 
Viceroy for his exceeding benevolence in his efforts to 
get the people to subscribe the means for the return to 
Cuba of those unfortunates who were not able to do so 
without such assistance. Appended to this letter was a 
piece of poetry, full of loyality and gratitude, which was 
approved by the authorities, and published in the "Au- 
rora," at Mantanzas — when, to their horror and surprise, 
it got into circulation, it was found to contain a vile 
acrostic, " Vivan los Jlllibusteros." By order of the 
Captain General an attempt was made to stop the circu- 
lation — but he was too late. Thus they are sometimes 
tiicked. It is said the Spanish army in Cuba is com- 
posed of as long, lean and sallow looking set of men as 
ever was honored with the appellation of an army. — 
Snatched from their mountain homes in Spain, they 
were brought to Cuba and treated more like slaves than 
soldiers ; their food is of the poorest and meanest kind, 
and their clothes are said to be made all the same size, 
and when a fat man comes, he is put on short allowance 
until he gets small enough to wear them, and a lean 
man is fed with beans to fatten him — the first in all 
likelihood is true, the last doubtful. The present filli- 
bustering movement, which is reported as about to be 
carried into effect, is said to consist of about 20,000 
men, headed by General Quitman, though no one has 
the right to say so, for he states in his letter, written in 



answer to a friend, that no man has the right to speak 
for him but himself. Rumor already states the advance 
of this expedition to have started, and that the remain- 
der, some 15,000, will soon be underway. It cannot be 
doubted that a large portion of the people of the United 
States have determined Cuba shall be ours — the feeling 
is limited to neither section — north and south, hand in 
hand, demand it. If the Government of Spain is wise, 
and desires to save that, which in the natural progress of 
events, will be lost, they will immediately open negotia- 
tions with the United States for the peaceful transfer of 
Cuba to us. Let Spain reject all overtures for six months 
or a year, and she may as well bid good-bye to her West 
India possessions. There is said to be in New York 
City at this present time, some 15,000 men whose hearts 
burn with a desire for a descent upon Cuba ; nor are these 
men destitute of means, there is said to be now in the City 
of New Orleans, arms sufficient to equip an army of ten 
thousand, and a celebrated house in New York to hold a 
million of dollars. In the next attempt there will be no 
garoting, nor shooting down in cold blood, but an easy vic- 
tory will be the result. If we are asked what right we 
have to wage war on Spain, for Cuba, the answer is this, 
might, in our case, is right, we want the Island of Cuba, if 
Spain will sell it, we will buy it, if Spain wont sell it, we 
will take it; some of us would rather gain it by the former 
method, but the greater part by the latter. The present 
state of affairs in Europe almost prevents England and 
France from coming lo the aid of Spain, for there is 



10 

hot work for them in the Baltic, which will take the 
better part of the navy of both of them, so that there 
will be scarcely any vessels to send to Cuba. Lord 
Howden, the English Minister at Madrid, with the 
Captain General who seems bent on the ruin of the 
Island, are endeavoring to put into effect a series of 
measures to put Cuba on the same footing as Jamaica. 
The inhabitants of Cuba groan under the weight of 
oppression that burdens them; the Creole ladies, perfect 
Amazons, are ready at a moment's warning to handle 
the pistol and the rifle, the men are collected in secret 
bands ready for a deadly onslaught, Cuba breathes as one 
who is oppressed with a deadly fever, the crisis is at 
hand, and soon the United States as an angel from 
above, will cast over it the broad shield of the Stars and 
Stripes, and rescue it from impending death, then will 
the cry resound from mountain to vale, from one end of 
this beautiful Island, to the other, "Viva la Repulica;" 
then, and then only will she be free. We do not wish 
to enslave, but to liberate, we do not propose to subdue 
the people of the Island of Cuba, but to strike off the 
J fetters that bind them. We desire no unfriendly rela- 
tions with the Islanders or the Government oF Spain, 
much less to light the torch of war, or throw among 
them the brand of discord. With the olive branch of 
peace we approach them both, desiring to woo the 
younger to our political wedlock, and to tell the old 
step dame on the other side of the Atlantic, that her 
daughter, the queen of the Indies, has attained her 



11 

majority, aiul should be wedded to the American 
Republic. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — The Genius of Liberty ad- 
vancing, smiles upon our cause, and upon our triumphs : 
Turning her face towards the west where the sun sits 
enthroned in his evening glory, she marks our bold out- 
line upon the Pacific Ocean, and sees sprinkled all over 
that vast expanse of waters a thousand islands, spark- 
ling like gems upon its mirrored surface. Turning from 
the setting to the rising sun, she gazes hitherward, 
around our ocean frontier, upon the land of the Pilgrims, 
the rock on which they rested, upon the summit of 
Bunker Hill, the field of Lexington, and down to the 
spot where the last act of the drama of the Revolution was 
performed at York Town. Tracing up and around the 
Ocean line, taking in the ridge that overlooks the 
"Maine"-Mosaic block, around which our Eastern limits 
traverse, and sweeping in the temperate zone two thous- 
and miles, along the Eastern States, the old thirteen, 
doubling the Florida reef, and reaching far beyond the 
Gulf of Mexico to the point of departure. On this side, 
she beholds, scarcely separated from the Floridian Penin- 
sula, the Island that sits upon the throne of the Indian 
Archipelago. The largest, brightest gem of them all — 
The Genius of Liberty, lifting her prophetic finger, 
forewarns the sons of America, that no other power 
should stand upon its soil. She tells them that the 
gem of the ocean must be set in the tiara of the Union, 
that another star must appear as its representative ' 



\ 



upon the dazzling folds of the standard that waves over 
yonder Capitol. What a contrast does the Eastern 
Hemisphere present with ours, there, with its thrones 
and principalities, the mingling of despotism in every 
grade and form, of civilization and barbarism, of down 
trodden humanity, and of oppression ; no cheering 
voice is heard amidst the contention, and uproar of the 
sanguinary combatants, whose blood now deluges Europe 
and Asia, and their bones whiten over their expansive 
fields. Here in this Western Hemisphere, " in the land 
of the free and home of the brave," the spot, yes the 
spot " when there came to this land the poor Exile of 
Erin," that received him, and threw wide open its hos- 
pital gates to the exile of every other clime. The land 
where the deep foundations of public liberty are laid, 
where want and suffering have no abiding place, where 
tyranny has fled howling away forever, where peace and 
plenty, toleration and freedom of conscience, where all 
the blessings of civil and religious liberty are wide 
spread around us as the atmosphere we breathe. Let 
the Zodiac of the Union then stretch around the Antilles 
and over the American continent. Let the sun of 
liberty which enters its pathway by the Ecliptic, traverse 
all over this political circle, dissipating the darkness 
that now hangs around its confines, and lighting up 
the whole Western hemisphere, with peace, joy, and 
the blessings of American Liberty. 

JOHN M. WILSON, 



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